THOLOS | VOLUME 25 1

THOLOS

VOLUME 25

USBG 

HIGHLIGHT

Long-Time Partnership 

Yields Beautiful Results

MEET 

THE TEAM

Photography and 

Technical Imaging Branch 

FEATURE

Arboretum in the City 
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SUSTAINABILITY SPOTLIGHT MEET THE TEAM

18 22

TA B LE O F CO N T EN T S

18 SUSTAINABILITY SPOTLIGHT:

Beyond the Dome: Fort Meade

22 MEET THE TEAM:

 Photography and Technical 

Imaging Branch

USBG HIGHLIGHT

TA B LE O F CO N T EN T S

FEATURE

4 12

 4 FEATURE:

Arboretum in the City

12 USBG HIGHLIGHT:

 Long-Time Partnership 

Yields Beautiful Results
4 THOLOS | VOLUME 25 THOLOS | VOLUME 25 5

ARBORETUM

IN THE CITY 

FEATURE

WRITTEN BY CAROL CAMPOS

PHOTOGRAPHY BY THOMAS HATZENBUHLER

Arborists Matthew Arnold 

(left) and Matt Rawson cut 

down the 2022 U.S. Capitol 

Christmas Tree so it can be 

recycled and made into 

musical instruments to 

be donated to local North 

Carolina communities. 
6 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

Walking around the U.S. Capitol Grounds 

you can’t help but be in awe of the impressive buildings and their historic meaning, 

what you probably don’t know is that 

the U.S. Capitol Building is surrounded 

by an arboretum. The Capitol Grounds 

and Arboretum jurisdiction is a Level 

III-accredited arboretum recognized by 

ArbNet. This designation establishes the 

U.S. Capitol Grounds as one of 45 globally accredited arboreta that have at least 

500 woody plant taxa, practice scientific 

research, promote conservation, and 

engage in public outreach and education 

to protect and preserve trees. 

A team of professional arborists, urban 

foresters and plant health care specialists 

are responsible for the documentation and 

day-to-day care of over 4,800 trees and 

plants located throughout the 274-acre 

U.S. Capitol Grounds. This area includes 

lawns, parks, historic and commemorative 

trees, statuary, historic fountains and water 

features that provide an awe-inspiring 

setting for the U.S. Capitol. 

The U.S. Capitol Grounds were designed 

by landscape architect Frederick Law 

Olmsted in a Capitol campus expansion 

project performed from 1874 to 1892. 

Olmsted used trees heavily in his design 

to both frame the building and provide 

shade for visitors. There are about 890 

trees immediately surrounding the U.S. 

Capitol Building; approximately 40 of the 

original trees planted in 1874 remain on 

the grounds today.

The work of the Capitol Grounds and 

Arboretum team is focused on preserving and improving Olmsted’s legacy and 

the historical landscape. The Tree Care 

Division is a highly trained group of 

International Society of Arboriculturecertified arborists and licensed tree experts 

dedicated to the maintenance, documentation and overall care of the arboretum’s 

woody plant collection. A team of arborists led by Steven Graham oversee tree 

health and risk assessment, tree planting, 

pruning, removals, emergency response, 

tree preservation, integrated pest management activities, and events such as memorial and commemorative tree planting 

ceremonies, and the Capitol Christmas 

Tree installation and lighting ceremony. 

As part of routine maintenance around 

the Capitol campus, Melissa Westbrook, 

Capitol Grounds Urban Forester, and 

the arborist team use specialized tools to 

perform tree risk assessments. “We have 

several IML-RESI wood inspection drill 

systems that allow us to assess internal 

structural defects of trees that are not 

Members of the 

Capitol Grounds 

& Arboretum Tree 

Care Division plant 

a new tree along 

the North Drive 

sidewalk (left to 

right: Henry Brady, 

Harper Martin, 

Aaron Rowe and 

Steven Graham).

“There are many 

magnificent trees on 

the Capitol Grounds, 

some nearly 200 

years old, and I 

hope that the trees 

we choose to plant 

today will be on 

the grounds for 

hundreds of years 

into the future.”

MELISSA WESTBROOK

Urban Forester 

Capitol Grounds and Arboretum 
THOLOS | VOLUME 25 7

One of Olmsted's 

original trees that 

is still on the U.S. 

Capitol Grounds.
8 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

visible from the outside,” said Westbrook. 

These tools, along with other technology 

such as sonic tomography (essentially 

using sound waves to create a tree X-ray), 

allow the arborists and the urban forester 

to assess decay and evaluate wood quality 

and stability. These are important tools 

for making informed decisions about tree 

risk and mitigating safety concerns on the 

Capitol campus.

The Tree Care Division is focused on 

preserving mature trees on campus and 

uses multiple evaluation tools to calculate 

ecosystem services and environmental 

benefits. Tree database software is used 

to develop an “eco-benefits” report of the 

arboretum’s tree canopy to interpret cost 

savings the canopy provides due to stormwater runoff, carbon sequestration and 

cooling effects. “It literally pays to preserve 

our mature trees and do what we can to 

help them thrive in the landscape for as 

long as possible,” said Westbrook. The team 

of arborists take their preservation role 

seriously and only prune or remove trees 

based on tree health and risk. Pruning is 

one component of maintaining tree health. 

The team follows industry best management practices for pruning to ensure things 

like proper cutting techniques are used 

to avoid exposure to potential diseases. 

Healthy trees contribute more clean air to 

the space around them and are less likely 

to be affected by weather events, pests 

and diseases. 

“Trees are generally only removed if 

they pose an unacceptable level of risk to 

Olmsted's Japanese 

pagoda tree being 

milled by the District 

Department of 

Transportation Urban 

Forestry Division in 

Berryville, Virginia. 
THOLOS

| VOLUME 259

human safety or property that cannot be 

mitigated,” said Westbrook. When a tree 

needs to be removed, the team follows 

sustainability practices that minimize 

waste to upcycle historical trees and limbs 

that are cut as part of tree maintenance 

on the U.S. Capitol Grounds. Over the 

past two years, Capitol Grounds and 

Arboretum has collaborated with the U.S. 

Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) Gift Shops, 

the District Department of Transportation 

(DDOT) Urban Forestry Division (UFD) 

and the U.S. Forest Service to help tell 

the story of urban wood utilization. Reuse 

of urban wood is a sustainable practice, 

supports a carbon-neutral policy, and gives 

new life to historical and significant trees 

in the arboretum’s collections. 

When a tree needs to be removed, viable 

wood is given to U.S.-based wood artisans 

to create one-of-a-kind items for sale 

in the CVC Gift Shops and its online 

store. Each crafted item is part of the 

“Artisan Crafts from the Capitol Grounds 

Collection” and comes with a provenance 

card detailing information about the exact 

tree from which the item was crafted. 

Items currently in the collection include 

pens, decorative bowls, plates, gavels and 

jewelry. This collaboration allows the 

public to purchase a piece of historical 

trees from the U.S. Capitol Grounds. 

“Once visitors discover that the wood 

product comes from the U.S. Capitol 

Grounds their face lights up and they 

begin to ask our Sales Associates questions about the Capitol Grounds and the 

trees planted on it,” said Jamilah Charles, 

CVC Gift Shops Merchandise Manager. 

Visitors are excited at the opportunity of 

bringing home an item that it is meaningful and unique. The most popular 

items in the collection are the Japanese 

pagoda and red oak gavels. The gavels 

in particular are a popular item among 

the Capitol Hill community. The collection will be expanded this spring when 

wooden candleholders will be introduced. 

This partnership between the CVC and 

Capitol Grounds and Arboretum allows 

the Capitol Grounds team to salvage 

wood materials and provides opportunities 

to educate visitors about trees within the 

arboretum’s living collection.

Top: Finished wooden 

bowl made from the 

Japanese pagoda tree 

removed from campus.

Bottom: Wood from 

the historic Japanese 

pagoda tree is used to 

create a bowl sold at 

the CVC Gift Shops.
10 THOLOS

| VOLUME 25

Joseph Wilkinson 

from Fredericksburg, 

Virginia, works with 

wood from the historic 

Japanese pagoda tree 

to create a bowl sold 

at the CVC Gift Shops.
THOLOS | VOLUME 25 11

Another important sustainability initiative 

is the Capitol Grounds and Arboretum’s 

urban wood reuse pilot program through 

the salvage of the Capitol Christmas Tree. 

This project, initiated in 2021, led to a 

collaboration that has allowed Capitol 

Grounds and Arboretum to transfer large, 

usable tree wood to DDOT UFD for 

sustainable reuse. After the end of the 

2021 holiday season, arborists worked 

with DDOT to transfer the 70-foot 

Capitol Christmas Tree to their mill 

where the wood was repurposed into 

durable products such as tabletops and 

benches. The partnership allows DDOT 

to use wood from the Capitol Grounds in 

public school projects across the District 

of Columbia. Most recently, the 2022 

Capitol Christmas Tree, a 78-foot-tall red 

spruce (Picea rubens) selected from the 

Pisgah National Forest, will be recycled to 

make musical instruments to be donated 

to local North Carolina communities. 

More than 140 years after he envisioned it, Olmsted’s design still drives all 

landscaping decisions at the U.S. Capitol 

Grounds. “We use Olmsted’s design as 

the basis of our decisions since we have 

historic records that indicate which 

species and locations Olmsted used in his 

design,” said Westbrook. In planting new 

trees, the Capitol Grounds team considers 

how the species contribute to the overall 

plant collections and genetic diversity 

in addition to the arboretum’s goals of 

plant conservation and sustainability. The 

team evaluates trees for size, hardiness, 

susceptibility to insects and diseases and 

soil conditions. Careful tree selection is 

important to create an attractive and resilient landscape in the face of ongoing and 

emerging challenges. Maintaining healthy 

trees and sustainable landscapes requires 

consideration of how the landscape can 

support pollinators and beneficial invertebrate communities. These communities 

in turn provide natural pest control for 

potentially harmful tree pests. The placement and selection of new trees continues 

to follow Olmsted’s plan for creating a 

natural and peaceful landscape in the 

nation’s capital to be enjoyed and admired 

by visitors from all over the world. 

Over the past five years, the Capitol 

Grounds and Arboretum team has used 

strategic tree planting initiatives to 

increase landscape function, resiliency 

and sustainability. These efforts have 

also reinforced the role the arboretum 

takes in managing urban forests to create 

landscapes that support the conservation 

of plant and animal species in urban 

ecosystems. The team is always working 

to expand their collaborative network 

among arboreta, public gardens and organizations committed to tree conservation, 

horticulture and collections management 

to protect and preserve the grounds for 

future generations. 

Come visit the U.S. Capitol Grounds 

and enjoy an urban oasis in the nation's 

capital where the past and the future 

merge in the name of preservation.

View of the 

display case at 

the CVC Gift Shop 

containing items 

from the Artisan 

Crafts from the 

Capitol Grounds 

Collection. 
12 THOLOS

| VOLUME 25 THOLOS| VOLUME 25 13

USBG HIGHLIGHT

Long-Time 

Partnership 

Yields 

Beautiful 

Results

WRITTEN BY DEVIN DOTSON 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LUKE WALTER

Modis as utat lam, 

nonsed eum quam 

rae prae. Ferrum 

quassi ut atatum 

que restiae voloressi 

berore sunt, tem 

quatio quis et qu.

Gardener Kenny 

Silveira installs 

orchids into the 

Tropics house 

feature.
14 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

In February 2023, the United States Botanic Garden (USBG) 

opened the 27th annual joint orchid exhibit in partnership with 

Smithsonian Gardens. Featured in several rooms of the USBG 

Conservatory, these two institutions have paired their substantial orchid collections and horticultural knowledge to showcase 

thousands of orchid blooms for the public.

“This is our oldest partnership, and we hope to continue it for 

decades to come,” said Dr. Susan K. Pell, USBG Executive 

Director. “Each of our orchid collections is many thousands 

strong, and joining together to display them allows us to present 

an even wider diversity of these wonderful plants along with 

fascinating, educational stories and programs.”

Each year, the two gardens present a joint display of orchids, 

alternating the location between the USBG Conservatory and 

one of the Smithsonian Institution museums. With both 

organizations visited by many local, national and international 

travelers, it is likely several million people have enjoyed the 

beautiful results of this partnership.

This year’s exhibit, “Discover the World of Orchids,” runs 

February 17 to April 30, 2023. One of the largest plant families in the world, orchids vary greatly in floral shape, size, 

color and scent, and technology advances their conservation. 

From growing orchids via tissue culture to tools that let one 

see their hidden parts, technological advancement has changed 

humans’ relationship with orchids. Visitors can explore stories 

of how technology contributes to conserving, growing and 

understanding orchids. 

Employees from across the USBG help make the exhibit come 

to life. Horticulture employees plan, grow and install the plants; 

while Operations constructs display elements and keeps the 

A vestibule in the Tropics house showcases orchids from partner Smithsonian Gardens' collection.
THOLOS | VOLUME 25 15

For the exhibit, 

the USBG team 

covered two 

custom, 9-foot-tall 

metal trees with 

orchids, displaying 

thousands of 

colorful blooms.
16 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

greenhouse systems in top shape. The USBG Learning and 

Engagement team helps prepare interpretive signage and plans 

and presents educational programs, and Administrative Services 

employees support the wide array of contracts and purchases 

needed for the ongoing partnership and exhibit. Over the course 

of the exhibit, both USBG and Smithsonian Gardens employees 

maintain the displays, swapping out additional orchids as they 

come into bloom to keep the exhibit fresh and full of blooms.

Guests can visit the Tropics house this year to see hundreds of 

orchids providing vibrant bursts of color at ground level and 

suspended in the air, as well as two 9-foot-tall tree sculptures 

covered with hundreds of epiphytic orchids and bromeliads — 

a colorful photo opportunity. Visitors will find Dendrobium 

and Paphiopedilum orchids throughout the Plant Adaptations 

and Plant Conservation houses, including a special display that 

showcases pollination and pollinators featuring showy slipper 

orchids and strikingly fragrant Bulbophyllum orchids.

We invite everyone to come see this year’s exhibition of many 

varieties of orchids created by this dynamic partnership and the 

hard work of employees across both organizations. From beauty 

to usefulness to conservation, orchids have many stories to share.

Visitors explore orchids installed in the Tropics house.
THOLOS | VOLUME 25 17

The exhibit displays 

orchids throughout 

the Conservatory, 

including eight 

displays at eye level 

hung from the top 

of the 93-feet-high 

Tropics house.
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SUSTAINABILITY SPOTLIGHT

WRITTEN BY ERIN NELSON

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES ROSENTHAL

FORT MEADE

BEYOND the

DOME

Chris Saylor replaces 

the bearings in an 

electric motor.
20 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

The Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible for managing 

the buildings and grounds on Capitol Hill, but it also maintains 

several facilities across the National Capital Region, including 

facilities in Fort Meade, Maryland.

Among the structures sitting on the 100-acre lot at Fort Meade 

is the Library of Congress (LOC) Book Storage Facility. As 

the LOC collection grows, so does its need for more storage 

space — it receives approximately 8,000 new items every day. 

The Book Storage Facility currently consists of six modules and 

five cold storage rooms, with construction funding for a seventh 

module approved in the Fiscal Year 2023 budget. 

The modules boast 35-foot-high ceilings with rows of 

bookshelves that reach up to 30 feet. Books, maps, manuscripts, 

photographs, microfilm and music are stored in one of 10 

different-sized boxes and placed on one of six shelves of various 

sizes. There are three separate climates carefully maintained 

by the AOC, with temperatures set to 50, 35 and 25 degrees 

Fahrenheit, all at 30 percent relative humidity, to accommodate 

the various materials. Staging areas, set up outside of the cold 

storage rooms, allow items to acclimate to the varying temperatures and prevent condensation so they can be safely moved 

from one climate to another.

LOC staff are charged with overseeing the collection — receiving, sorting and cataloguing each piece — while AOC staff are 

responsible for efficiently operating, repairing and maintaining 

the modules. AOC staff oversee the dehumidifiers, chillers, 

boilers, humidifiers, pumps, cooling towers, and all other 

mechanical and electrical equipment required to preserve the 

LOC’s priceless collection. 

The items in the LOC collection are tracked through an automated book system that enables LOC workers to quickly find 

and retrieve them. The process of “checking out” a book is a 

bit more involved given the distance it has to travel from shelf 

to hand, but items are transported between Fort Meade and 

Capitol Hill every day. 

Given the height of the shelves, LOC workers often must use 

specialized lifts to retrieve items. A super-flat floor was installed 

to prevent the lifts from leaning and turning over, knocking over 

the thousands of carefully catalogued boxes. Magnets were also 

installed in certain spots in the floor, a few feet from the end of 

aisles, to slow the lifts as they enter the main aisles. Every detail 

of the modules is centered on protecting history in its various 

forms and preserving it for generations to come.

The first module was completed in 2002. From that year until 

2017, the AOC maintained the modules through contract 

support. Beginning in 2017, the agency was able to add full-time 

AOC employees to manage the facilities. There are now two 

shifts overseeing the facilities with recent funding provided to 

add a much-needed third operations and maintenance shift.

Chris Saylor and 

Rick Webb service 

a fan motor for 

one of the cold 

storage rooms.
THOLOS | VOLUME 25 21

Moving from contract support to AOC staff has resulted in 

better response times for correcting equipment issues, which has 

resulted in better environmental conditions. AOC staff have also 

found ways to create significant energy improvements, leading 

to a 30 percent reduction of energy consumption from 2016 

to 2022.

The new third shift will add enough staff to perform all maintenance, repair and operations at Fort Meade, which is an ongoing 

task. The Book Storage Facility has increased in size by almost 

40 percent since 2017, including the addition of a second heating 

and cooling plant, and will continue to grow with Module 7.

With the growth of the facility has come a significant focus on 

identifying the heating and cooling loads for the HVAC equipment and modifying the way the AOC thinks about matching 

the required energy loads. The building loads are driven by the 

outside air dew point, which is the temperature the air must be 

cooled for it to become saturated. A higher dew point results in a 

greater amount of moisture in the air and a higher energy load at 

the facility. AOC staff now incorporate the dew point into their 

daily operational plans and have modified controls to respond to 

this important parameter correctly.

What makes it so important? Preservation standards. For AOC 

staff to preserve the LOC’s collection, the air must be cooler 

and dryer at the Book Storage Facility than in a normal office. 

This requires special attention. The AOC’s work is always a 

balance between its important historic preservation mission and 

planning for future improvements. The work at Fort Meade is 

no different.

Future improvements will prioritize energy efficiency goals. 

Plans include the installation of special dehumidifiers that will 

provide for the reuse of up to 60 percent of energy in the facility 

as well as the implementation of on-site power generation 

through solar panels and energy storage to maximize energy 

savings and resiliency. 

On Capitol Hill and beyond, the AOC’s dedicated employees 

take pride in maintaining all facilities entrusted to their care and 

serving those that work to preserve the priceless items housed 

within them.

John Smith 

and Derrick 

Smith repair 

the automatic 

door closer in 

Module 4.
22 THOLOS | VOLUME 25 THOLOS | VOLUME 25 23

PHOTOGRAPHY 

AND TECHNICAL 

IMAGING BRANCH

MEET THE TEAM

WRITTEN BY KIREN MARSHALL

PHOTOGRAPHY BY AOC PHOTOGRAPHY AND TECHNICAL IMAGING BRANCH 
24 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

The Photography and Technical Imaging Branch (PTIB) is 

responsible for the documentation of the historical buildings 

and grounds under the care of the Architect of the Capitol 

(AOC) and capturing the historic events within those spaces. 

The small but mighty PTIB often reports to work at dawn and 

stays late into the evening to capture the best images. After a 

gap in service during the Great Depression and WWII, AOC 

photography resumed in 1949 and has been going strong ever 

since. The department will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2024. 

The nine-person team took some time out of their busy schedules to talk about their work. 

Leslie Matthaei and Claralyn Burt are the two staff archivists. 

Both have experience working in photographic archives for the 

federal government and academic institutions, in addition to 

records management experience. Leslie and Claralyn have four 

primary responsibilities: to ensure that photographic and video 

assets are managed and preserved in perpetuity, to ensure that 

these assets are well-described and discoverable in the AOC 

Image Bank, which contains over 300,000 assets, to manage 

and maintain the AOC Image Bank, and to fulfill AOC staff 

requests for images. 

Ryan Pierce, Digital Imaging Specialist, has a deep background 

in historic preservation and is helping to develop in-house 

3D imaging capabilities for the agency, including scans of the 

statues in the National Statuary Hall Collection. 

Michael Dunn leads the department and has served at the 

AOC for the last 26 years, and as the head of PTIB since 2005. 

His background is in art conservation. He’s worked all over the 

country at museums and on historic preservation projects. 

Archivists Claralyn Burt and Leslie Matthaei select a frame from a historic role of 35mm color negatives depicting the Brumidi Corridors. The frame will be digitized using new capture 

technology and added to the AOC Image Bank.
THOLOS | VOLUME 25 25

Michael Dunn

CHIEF OF PHOTOGRAPHY

WHAT IS YOUR ROLE WITHIN PTIB AND 

HOW HAS IT EVOLVED OVER TIME? 

Since 2005, my focus has been on building, supporting and directing a team of photographers, 

technical imaging specialists and photo archivists. The principal areas of our mission are to 

support major construction and maintenance 

projects, events like presidential inaugurations, 

historic preservation, communications, exhibits 

and educational outreach. Around the turn of 

the century the transition to digital photography was gaining steam, and I am proud of my 

role in helping the AOC photography mission 

transition from wet chemistry photography to 

digital photography.

Q:

A:

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE PHOTO 

THAT YOU’VE TAKEN? 

I have had the honor of photographing 

several presidential inaugurations. My 

favorite photographs are the ones that 

show the event in the context of the 

building and the carefully constructed 

stage that the AOC builds for this most 

important occasion. Inaugurations bring 

everything together — all three branches 

of government, the American people, 

viewers from around the world, witnessing the peaceful transition of power. 

Q:

A:
26 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

Dewitt Roseborough

LEAD PHOTOGRAPHER

TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU GOT YOUR 

START IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND A 

BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND IN 

THE FIELD. HOW LONG HAVE YOU 

BEEN WITH THE AGENCY AND WHAT 

BROUGHT YOU HERE?

I picked up a camera in high school, which 

my father left me after his passing but 

received formal training in photography in 

the U.S. Navy. I was a naval photographer 

for 21 years, traveling all over the world. 

After I retired from the Navy, I worked at 

the U.S. Naval Academy and came to the 

AOC in 2005. Here I focus on architectural 

photography and learned a lot from 

Michael Dunn and all of my other coworkers in the department. As the lead photographer, my job is to have a pulse on all the 

ongoing construction projects to make 

sure we have adequate coverage with our 

small team. 

Q:

A:

HOW HAS THE WORK IN PTIB EVOLVED 

OVER YOUR TENURE WITH THE AGENCY?

The role of PTIB has evolved over time; not 

everyone in the agency knows that. We 

aren’t just taking photos — we have a large 

3D program, including scanning/digitization, 

and we work with historical records and documentation as well. Researchers will come 

to us for historical images of the Capitol, and 

so will our maintenance team, to make sure 

they aren’t about to hit any wires with their 

digging. That’s where our archivists 

come in. 

Q:

A:

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART OF 

THE JOB? 

I continue to be impressed by the skill and 

craftsmanship of the men and women who 

work at the agency to preserve this historic 

building. It’s really awe inspiring. I also love 

inauguration time because it takes almost 

everyone in the agency to pull off; it’s a real 

team effort and takes nearly two years of 

preparation to accomplish, with over a year 

of documentation by PTIB. 

Q:

A:
THOLOS | VOLUME 25 27

Sean Greene 

PHOTOGRAPHER

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WITH THE 

AGENCY AND HOW DID YOU GET YOUR 

START IN THE FIELD?

For about 10 years I worked as a freelance 

photo assistant and digital technician in 

New York City doing lighting and computer 

work for fashion and advertising photographers. It allowed me to work with top 

fashion brands and seasoned fashion and 

advertising photographers and was truly the 

best way to learn. Before I went to New York, 

I was a staff photographer for the United 

States Postal Service. Now, I’ve been working 

for the AOC for a little over three years and 

focus on the House office buildings. I have 

done some work documenting historic 

works of art, as well as capturing dedicated 

trade workers and laborers doing their jobs. 

Q:

A:

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE 

PHOTO YOU’VE SHOT? WHY 

IS IT YOUR FAVORITE?

This image was created with my colleague 

Luke Walter; it’s of the Speaker’s Lobby 

and was taken for use in the Capitol Visitor 

Center's new Exhibition Hall space. We 

set the frame and placed the camera 

on a tripod and shot over 12 different 

exposures with strobe lighting in different 

positions to capture the perfect lighting 

for each area. It took a couple hours to 

shoot and about a day of Photoshop work. 

It touches on some of the best tools in 

technical photography, both traditional 

and digital.

Q:

A:

WHAT ARE THE MOST CHALLENGING 

ASPECTS OF YOUR WORK?

One of the more challenging aspects of 

the work I would say would be on the 

video side — trying to distill a broad 

range of amazing work being done into 

a bite-size video. Showing as much of 

that as possible to accurately portray 

the work is a big task.

Q:

A:
28 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU GOT YOUR START IN PHOTOGRAPHY 

AND A BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND IN THE FIELD.

Photography began as a fascination and creative outlet for me as 

early as my years in college. In 2011, I purchased my first “real” camera 

and began photographing everything and anything that I could: 

landscapes, portraits, weddings and events. Of all the many genres 

of photography I’ve practiced over the last decade or more, I find this 

role to be the most challenging, rewarding and engaging.

Q:

A:

WHAT DO YOU PRIMARILY COVER AT 

THE AOC? WHAT IS 

YOUR FAVORITE TYPE 

OF ASSIGNMENT? 

I have been with the 

agency for five years 

and am involved in 

documenting several 

stonework restoration 

projects, including the 

Russell Senate Office 

Building and Phase 3 

of the Capitol Exterior 

Preservation — Stone 

and Metal Project. I 

can generally be found, 

however, in the Senate 

office buildings, the 

Capitol Building, the 

U.S. Botanic Garden, or 

on the Capitol Grounds 

with a camera in hand. 

The challenge and duty 

to tell the complete 

story of a multi-year 

project through photography and videography 

is incredibly rewarding.

Q:

A:

CAN YOU SHARE ANY TIPS ON THE BEST PLACE TO GET A 

GOOD PHOTO OF THE U.S. CAPITOL, AND YOUR PREFERRED 

TIME OF DAY FOR SHOOTING?

I think the best time to photograph the Capitol is at sunrise or at 

first light. There is a peaceful and quiet feeling to the Capitol during 

those hours of the morning that translates into photography 

very well. I’ve spent many mornings watching the golden or pink 

morning light slowly working its way down the east façade of the 

Capitol in a state of awe. My tips on photographing the Capitol are 

simple: use a wide field of view and keep the camera level to the 

horizon. Doing so will keep the lines of the architecture straight and 

prevent the resulting image from looking as though the building is 

falling over. 

Q:

A:

FAVORITE PHOTO 

YOU’VE TAKEN?

One of my favorite 

images is an early 

morning photo of the 

Capitol Building from 

the roof of the Russell 

Senate Office Building. 

What makes this image 

special is the color of 

the sunrise and the 

double rainbow arching 

across the sky from the 

north end of the Capitol. 

Q:

A:

Thomas Hatzenbuhler

PHOTOGRAPHER
THOLOS | VOLUME 25 29

James Rosenthal

PHOTOGRAPHER

TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU GOT YOUR START IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND A BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND IN THE 

FIELD. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WITH THE AGENCY 

AND WHAT BROUGHT YOU HERE?

I started taking pictures with my mother’s camera when I was 

12 and got my own camera a year later. I had always loved taking 

pictures of buildings, but my passion for documenting our built 

environment started in college. My degree is in historic preservation and architectural history. I started working with National 

Park Service in 1999 and traveled to 46 states during the 13 years 

I worked there. I have been with the AOC since 2012. 

Q:

A:

WHAT DO YOU PRIMARILY COVER AT THE AOC, AND 

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TYPE OF ASSIGNMENT?

My specialty is architecture and complex architectural interior 

lighting. I cover all types of work, from construction to preservation and conservation work, but my passion is for highly 

decorative spaces and the use of creative lighting to really 

bring the viewer into the spaces and see them as they may 

have never seen them before.

Q:

A:

DO YOU HAVE A 

FAVORITE PHOTO 

YOU’VE SHOT? WHY 

IS IT YOUR FAVORITE?

I have a few: some of 

conservation work in the 

Brumidi Corridors — the 

process is fascinating— 

some of elaborate interior 

spaces, and some of historic 

events — because c’mon, 

look where we work! But 

I think my favorite photograph, if I must pick one, is 

of the Capitol Gnome. I was 

assigned to document the 

“tiny doors” in the Senate 

and House wings, which 

included opening the 

doors to shoot inside. One 

of the U.S. Capitol Deputy 

Superintendents had a 

small garden gnome, which 

I brought along to be a 

prop in one of the shots as 

a joke. It turned out to be 

the best photograph from 

the series. 

Q:

A:

WHAT ARE THE 

MOST CHALLENGING 

AND LESSER-KNOWN 

ASPECTS OF YOUR WORK?

The ability to pivot from one 

type of work to another on 

the fly. It’s not uncommon to 

be documenting a concrete 

pour in the morning wearing 

coveralls and full personal 

protective equipment (PPE), 

changing into a suit for a 

mid-day congressional event, 

then back into field clothes 

for an afternoon of bronze 

statue conservation.

Q:

A:
30 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU GOT YOUR START IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND A BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND. 

WHAT DO YOU PRIMARILY COVER AT THE AOC, AND 

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TYPE OF ASSIGNMENT?

I grew up making home movies on VHS and Hi8 with my 

friends and brothers, who now also work in the industry. 

From there I was hooked, going on to study formally in 

high school and college, while living and working in New 

York. I’ve been with the AOC for five years. I’m mostly 

covering the Library buildings now, and my favorite 

assignments highlight our various craftsmen and women 

doing what they do best.

Q:

A:

WHAT ARE THE MOST CHALLENGING ASPECTS OF 

YOUR WORK?

Moving safely around construction sites is something 

we’re always especially cognizant of — that and allowing the tradespeople to work unimpededly.

Q:

A:

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE 

PHOTO THAT YOU’VE TAKEN?

There are so many opportunities 

to create beautiful images around 

campus. From recent memory, 

two I’ve enjoyed producing are of 

the Jefferson Building: one of the 

exterior while lit for its 125th anniversary celebration and the other 

a vertical panorama of the interior 

of the Main Reading Room.

Q:

Luke Walter 

PHOTOGRAPHER

A:
THOLOS | VOLUME 25 31

Leslie Matthaei 

STAFF ARCHIVIST 

“The best part of my job 

is providing AOC staff with 

historic photographs that inform 

their present-day projects.”

Ryan Pierce

DIGITAL IMAGING SPECIALIST

“I like how the variety of AOC projects 

stretches my knowledge, learning 

new techniques and improving old 

ones to document everything from 

small historic objects to project sites.”

Claralyn Burt 

STAFF ARCHIVIST 

“It’s immensely fulfilling to 

work with such a talented team 

in a hard-working agency to 

preserve the history of these 

iconic buildings and spaces.”

Staff Archivists 

Leslie Matthaei and 

Claralyn Burt assist 

Photographer Sean 

Greene in providing 

detailed metadata 

descriptions in the 

AOC Image Bank. 

Accurate descriptions 

help users discover 

assets in the system.
32 THOLOS | VOLUME 25

Legislative and Public Affairs

U.S. Capitol

Washington, DC 20515

THOLOS VOLUME 25

The Architect of the Capitol strives 

to meet its mission 24 hours a day, 

365 days a year to serve Congress 

and the Supreme Court, preserve

America’s Capitol, and inspire 

memorable experiences for all who 

visit the buildings and grounds.

Tholos is distributed by the Architect 

of the Capitol primarily for AOC 

employees. Questions regarding 

content and publication should be 

directed to AOC Legislative and Public 

Affairs at communications@aoc.gov 

or 202.228.1793.

JOIN AOC ONLINE:

Twitter.com/uscapitol 

Facebook.com/architectofthecapitol 

Instagram.com/uscapitol 

YouTube.com/uscapitol 

www.aoc.gov

Front Cover Photo By: 

Luke Walter

Back Cover Photo By: 

Sean Greene